Refrigerated display case



March 11, 1958 A. T. ToBlAsz REFRIGERATED DISPLAY CASE :5 Sheets-Sheet 1' Filed Sept. 9, 1955 MN NN HQ Th 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed' Sept. 9. 1955 7 a 4. 00 W 8% .I O0 K 7 m-ZL w. 1 1 3 m w March 11, 1958 A. T. ToBlAsi REFRIGERATED DISPLAY CASE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept. 9, 1955 United States Patent REFRIGERATED DISPLAY CASE Albin T. Tobiasz, Norwood Park, Ill., assignor to Leitner Equipment Company, a corporation of Illinois Application September 9, 1955, Serial No. 533,364

1 Claim. (Cl. 62-895) is passed through the display case from one side of the case to the other, thereby eliminating the coils which ordinarily obstruct the display of food in the case from the back of the case. The side-to-side flow of refrigerated air also makes possible the provision of doors on front and back to provide access to the food from either front or back of the display case when it is positioned in a center aisle. The provision of access doors on front and back eliminates a substantial amount of work for the waitresses, and speeds up service.

The display case may be provided with several food display compartments, and, if desired, the upper food display compartment may be isolated from the refrigerated air and kept at normal temperature. Dampers are provided to isolate the upper food display compartment from the refrigerated air, and these may readily be moved whenever it is desired to change the upper compartment from a non-refrigerated compartment to a refrigerated compartment, and vice versa.

The lower food display compartment may be provided with a plurality of openings in its bottom wall to receive salad pans. Cold air is blown across the bottom of the salad pans to keep the salads in fresh and appetizing condition.

The structure by which the above mentioned and other advantages of the invention are attained will be described in the following specification, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, showing a preferred illustrative embodiment of the invention, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerated display case embodying the invention;

- Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view, taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, the intermediate food display shelves being omitted;

. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view, taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig; 4 is a cross sectional view, taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing the upper compartment with the dampers in closed position for isolating the upper food display compartment from the refrigerated air; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing the damper structure in closed position.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral 2 indicates a base which supports a lower compartment 3. Compartment 3 may be used for food storage and is pro "ice vided with hinged doors 4 and 5 on its front wall 6. Similar doors are provided on its back wall when the depth of the compartment is suflicient to make such doors desirable. Each food display compartment may be formed as a separate section adapted to be assembled with other similar sections, but it is preferred to form all the food display compartments as a single unit.

Unit 7 is provided with a liner 10 extending around the interior in spaced relationship to the side wall 11, top 12, and side wall 13, as shown in Fig. 3. The space between the liner and the walls is filled with any suitable insulation, as indicated at 14. In cases intended to stand against a wall, unit 7 may be provided with an insulated back wall structure similar to side walls 11, and 13.

Upper display compartment 8 is provided with inner side panels 15 and 16 which are mounted in spaced relationship to liner 10 on opposite sides of the case and cooperate with liner 10 to form air passageways between the liner and each inner side panel. Side panel 15 is provided at its upper end with a horizontal flange 17 extending outwardly to liner 10, to which it is secured in any suitable manner, as by welding. The lower end of side panel 15 is provided with a horizontal flange 18 extending inwardly. Side panel 16 is provided with corresponding flanges 19 and 20. Flanges 17 and 19 are spaced a short distance below the top of the case and support a transparent horizontal panel 21. A fluorescent light tube 22 is mounted above panel 21 to provide light for the interior of the case. A horizontal transparent panel 23 is supported on flanges 18 and 20. Panel 23 forms the bottom of the upper display compartment and completely closes the space between side panels 15 and 16 from the lower portion of the case.

The lower display compartment 9 is provided with inner side panels 24 and 25 which are similar to panels 15 and 16 and are also spaced inwardly from liner 10 to form air passageways between liner 10 and each inner side panel. Panel 24 is provided with a flange 26 which extends outwardly from its upper edge but terminates in spaced relationship to liner 10, and with a flange 27 extending inwardly from its lower end. Panel 25 is provided with similar flanges 28 and 29. A damper 30 is slidably mounted between flanges 18 and 26. Damper 30 is wider than the lateral space between liner 1t) and panel 24, and is provided with a downturned lip 31 adapted to facilitate manipulation of the damper to close or open the air passageway between liner 10 and panel 24. A damper 32, similar to damper 30, is mounted between flanges 20 and 28 at the. opposite end of the case.

A bottom plate 33 of any suitable construction, is mounted on flanges 27 and 29. In the drawings the bottom plate 33 is providedwith a plurality of openings 33', and a tray 34 is positioned in each opening. Trays 34 are provided with shoulders 35 adapted to seat on plate 33 adjacent openings 33' to hold the trays with the bottom portion of each suspended through an opening 33'.

Compartment 3 is provided with side walls 36 and 37, and a bottom wall 38. A liner 39 is spaced inwardly from the outer walls of compartment 3 and is provided with openings (not shown) in registration with each door. The edges of liner 39 terminate in flanges extending to the walls of the compartment to completely close the space between the liner and the walls. This space is filled with suitable insulation 40. The depth of compartment 3 is greater than the depth of unit 7, and compartment 3 is provided with a top wall 41 which extends forwardly and rearwardly of unit 7 to provide shelves 42 and 43. In cases designed to stand against a wall, the

a back of unit 7 is preferably flush with the back of compartment 3and'shelf 43 is eliminated.

A blower housing 44 is'mounted in compartment 3 adjacentliner it} and just below. the bottom ofone of said trays 34. The bottom of blower, housing 44 isopen, and a motor. 45 is mounted therein. A fan 46 isconnected to' the motor and is rotated ina horizontalplane. A circular fin refrigerating coil 47 is mounted inblower housing 44 above fan. 46. The blades of fan. 46 are shaped to blow air upwardly through the tin coil which cools the airpassing therethrough. Housing '44 has one laterally extending opening. 48 which directs some of the refrigerated airlaterally across the upper portion of compartmcnt3 to keep the contents of trays 34 cool. Another opening' '49 in the blower housing communicates with the air passageway between liner and panel 25 to directrefrigerated air upwardly along the side of compartment 9; 'If' damper 32 is open, the refrigerated air also passes upwardly through the air passageway between liner 10 and panel 16.

Panel 16 is provided adjacent its upper end series of vents 49 through which the refrigerated air passes to cool compartment 8. A similar series of vents 50 adjacentthe upper end of panel 25 directs some of the re frigerated air across compartment 9 to cool it. The blower and refrigerating coilhave sufficient capacity to provide cool air for both food display compartments 8 and 9, as well as for the upper portion of compartment 3. If damper 32 is closed, thecool air doesnt pass into compartment. 8 butis forced through vents 50 in com partment 9. The dampers 3tland32 are freely movable and may he slid manually from open to closed position and vice versa. When both dampers are open, both food display compartmentsare refrigerated. Whenboth dampers are closed, the upper food display compartment is isolated from the .fiow. of refrigerated air. If unit 7 has more than two compartments, a pair of dampers and vents are provided for each additional compartment.

Panels and 24 are each provided with a series of vents 51 and 52 respectively, which are similar to vents 49 and 50. The cold air passing throughcompartment 8 passes through vents 51 and downwardly through the air passageway between panel 15 and liner 10. This air cannot pass through vents 52 because the cold air flowing into compartment 9 through vents 50 is passing through vents 52 in the opposite direction. The air from vents 51 merges with the air from vents 52 and flows downwardly through the air passageway between panel 24 and liner 10, and through opening 53 into compartment 3. The air flowing through opening 53 merges with the air flowing from opening 48 across the top portion of compartment 3, and carries it downwardly and around the bottom portion of compartment 3 where it is again picked up by the blower fan and blown past; the refrigerating coils. The position of the blower and refrigerating coils in compartment 3 makes it possible to refrigerate compartments 8 and 9 without having refrigerating pipes in either display compartment, thus leaving both front and rear of the food display compartments unobstructed.

The appearance of the food display compartments is enhanced by the clear, unobstructed view, even when the display case is positioned against a wall. Each food display compartment is provided with one or more intermediate shelves 54, as shown in Fig. 1. Shelves 54 are preferably glass or transparent plastic material so that they will not detract from the attractiveness of the food display. The intermediate shelves are mounted in any suitable manner, and are of less depth than the depth of the food display compartments, to insure proper circulation of air throughout each compartment.

If visibility is not required through the back of the case, the back wall of unit 7 may be constructed in the same manner as side walls :11 and 13. If display through the back is desired, but accessibility is not required, the back of the. case maybe provided: with a fixed, imperforate transparentclosure member. Such .closure member may be made of glassor. of any, suitable plastic material. In the preferred form, the food displayed in the case is.visiblefromreither'the. frontorhack of the case, and access is provided through both the front and back. In such structures the structure at the front of the case is duplicated at the back, and therefore, the description will be limited to the front.

Unit 7 is provided with a front frame comprising sides 55 and 56, a bottom member '57, and a top member 58. A transverse strip. '59 extends between sides 55 and 56 adjacent the top of compartment 9. Each food display compartment is provided with a double track 60 extending across thecase at its-loweredge and a double channel 61 at its upper edge. Doors 62 and 63 are slidably mounted in track otl and channel 61. Each door is essentially a transparent panel of-glass or plastic material, and is approximately equal in width to half the width of the front frame. A suitable handle 64 is mounted on each door to facilitate manipulation thereof. Instead of providing a pair of doors for each food display compartment, each-door may-be 0f thesame height as the front frame, and one pair of doorsmayserve as a closure for the entireunit 7.

While I have described several preferred embodiments of my invention in considerabledetail, it will be understood thatthe descriptionthereof is intended to be illustrative, rather than restrictive, as many details of the structure may be modified or changed without departing from the spiritor scope of the invention. Accordingly, I do notdesireto be restrictedtothe-exact construction described.

Lclaim:

A refrigerated display case having a pair of insulated side walls, a lower compartment, an upper display compartment, a blower housingmounted in said lower compartment, a refrigerating coil and a fan in said blower housing, said upper display compartment having side panels spaced from said insulated side walls to provide air passageways therebetween, said blower housing having two openingswhereby-refrigerated air may be blown laterally across .theupper portion of said lower compartment and into one of said air passageways at the same time, and a vent in each of said side panels for directing refrigerated air from; one of said passageways across said display compartment into said other passageway and back into said blower housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES .PATENTS 1,397,392 Amend Nov. 15, 1921 2,150,195 Valade Mar. 14, 1939 2,255,947 Starr Sept. 16, 1941 2,466,286 Stultz Apr. 5, 1949 2,533,913 Booth Dec. 12, 1950 2,561,276 Hill July 17, 1951 2,568,268 Booth Sept. 18, 1951 

